4 month sleep regression

runningwild

Can we talk about the 4 month sleep regression? 

What week did it start and end (if it has) for you? 

How are you coping? 

Did it effect day or nighttime sleep the most?   

Did your baby go back to a better pattern afterwards? 

I think that's all I have for now ;-)

Missingchampagne

For us, it has been mild but noticeable so far. It began about a week after he turned four months old. He used to easily fall asleep after a bath, and now prefers to fight it heavily (and will do so for hours). He also wakes up at night and plays with his feet a ton, becoming distressed if nobody is around to play with him. 

I just play a game of "ok let's not sleep" and drag his crabby butt with me doing whatever I'm doing (while wearing him). I continue my routine and eventually sit and watch tv with him. The whole time I chat with him, rub his head and legs, but try to show him this is mommy time not Mason time. At first he watches and has a lot to say, then eventually passes out.

For the first two months of his life, he would randomly wake up at 2am SCREAMING and his bizarro witching hour was a full hour long. By now, he's a little bit immune to all of my traditional sleep methods like soothing baths, a song, driving around, swing set on high, so now it's more about keeping him close and letting him just expire.  

Naps are OK. He hates his swing out of nowhere and never sleeps as long on a flat surface, but he does still take two naps a day. They're just at random times now, depending on how restful the previous night was.

Missingchampagne

I'm also interested to know if the wakefulness has impacted other babies' hunger? Mine had stopped eating overnight and now drinks 2 overnight bottles again.

UnbreakableKimmySchmidt

I honestly can't say that DD experienced the 4 month sleep regression.  There were a few nights she woke up at night (instead of sleeping through) but she went back to sleep pretty quickly.  

We sleep trained her just after she turned 4 months (and moved her successfully to the crib, RIP RnP).  She has been doing great since that, sleeping 12-13 hours a night and up just once between 6-7 a.m. to eat and then will go back to sleep. 

runningwild

UnbreakableKimmySchmidt said:

I honestly can't say that DD experienced the 4 month sleep regression.  There were a few nights she woke up at night (instead of sleeping through) but she went back to sleep pretty quickly.  

We sleep trained her just after she turned 4 months (and moved her successfully to the crib, RIP RnP).  She has been doing great since that, sleeping 12-13 hours a night and up just once between 6-7 a.m. to eat and then will go back to sleep. 

Please share with me how you moved from rnp to crib :-)

momofmanyinthemitten

With my first 3, might sleep was horrible and they'd fight naps. I *think* this LO has started the sleep regression because naps are getting very difficult. He used to go down fairly easily, but now, I have to nurse him to sleep most of the time. If I remember correctly, one day, they all just seemed to snap out of it and go back to their previous routines. I'm hoping this little guy will do the same. I think it took about 3 wks to pass through it (and the 18 mo sleep regression, which is also just as fun, if not more so). 

UnbreakableKimmySchmidt

@runningwild - We moved from RnP to crib the same time we did sleep training.  Since we decided to do CIO sleep training I thought it would be a good time to just go cold turkey with the RnP.  The first few nights were rough but she has been sleeping in the crib great since (although as I type this she is currently screaming in her crib...).  I think she finally realized that she needed more room to stretch out.  

ivyvines6

Tbh I didn't know there was a four month sleep regression until I heard a few women discussing it. Leap four was complete and utter bullshit, thank god that's over with... 

As as far as sleep regression goes he went from taking two good naps during the day to now he barely naps at all, unless I let him CIO with a white noise machine. (Surprisingly he hasn't died yet  ) As far as night sleep goes he had a few nights that were scattered with him waking up at like four am, nursing, and going back to sleep, but he has been sttn since about three weeks... Night time sleep is still great, day time sleep is a nightmare. He's 22 w/o so I think this is just his new routine

kdrn913

Thank god I haven't seen too much change for DD. She has been sleeping through the night for a while now, since like 6 weeks. The only change I have seen so far is she is getting up way earlier- she used to sleep until 7 or 8, we've had a few 5 am wake ups this past week. Also her naps have been pretty mediocre 

sarahufl

We live in New York and spent 5 days in Seattle right at the time she hit 4 months. So it is a bit hard to say what was causing the problems at first- the time change or the regression.

Before, she was an awesome sleeper. Went in her crib from day one, would go to bed awake and put herself to sleep, she was sleeping 7-9 hours at night from about 6 weeks. She was totally not time or location sensitive to naps and would sleep just about anywhere without waking up crabby.

She will be 5 months on September 3, so we are going on about a month of the difficulties. I think they are annoying but likely not as bad as they could be, but the contrast is hard for me. She started with waking up every 1.5-2 hours all night and then having difficulties napping during the day, and this lasted a couple days. For the past 3 weeks or so, she will go from waking twice at night to waking 3-4 times. She also requires 2 crib naps a day, but sometimes completely refuses to take them, then the next day will take about 4 hours worth of naps. I suppose it is good that I get those good days, but they are so unpredictable, it makes it hard to plan for.

I found that a routine is my friend. I try to keep an eye on the time- if she has been awake around 2-3 hours, I try and have her at home, prepped for a nap. I am a SAHM, so on the days she won't nap, I throw her in the stroller and go for a walk, which seems to be the key to getting her to sleep. 

It's tiring

g&tlewis

Y'all. This sleep regression is awful. LO went from sleeping 8-10 hours straight with no swaddle to back completely swaddled and waking up crying multiple times a night. Last night, I was up with him 7 times. I can usually just put his paci back in his mouth and he goes back to sleep, but I typically have to get him up and feed him once throughout the night if the paci isn't working. I don't remember when it started.. Maybe 2-3 weeks ago?? He's almost 20 weeks now. My memory is REALLY struggling with this lack of sleep. I forgot my dad's birthday yesterday. Oops. LO hasn't been a great napper for a while now, but it's even worse now. We're lucky to get two one-hour naps. I'm coping with coffee and wine and sometimes tears.

korpatch

Can we talk about the 4 month sleep regression? It sucked.

What week did it start and end (if it has) for you? Week 15 start. Week 18 end.

How are you coping? Naps... I guess. I honestly don't remember. I guess I had to keep in mind that as a mom, I provide opportunities for him to do things, it's up to him to actually do them. I knew he already knew how to sleep and self soothe. I knew how much food he needed at night based on what he had eaten in the passed and his types of cries... So I just tried to be ok with it.

Did it effect day or nighttime sleep the most?   Nighttime only. Although daytime naps did actually get better around then.

Did your baby go back to a better pattern afterwards? He went back to the same pretty much as before only better with naps. He doesn't sleep as hard anymore. I used to be able to put him to sleep in a pack and play or crib elsewhere, transfer him to the car seat, and then from the car seat to his crib when we got home without him waking. Now that is completely impossible. And if he falls asleep when he's in his car seat, he wakes up as soon as he stops moving... So that changed too.

linzoirv

Can we talk about the 4 month sleep regression? 

What week did it start and end (if it has) for you? 
Week 18.5, I guess...

How are you coping? 
I'm coping just fine. DH is helping out during the nights when he is off from work, so I don't have to wake up with LO at all. YAY!  On Saturdays and Sundays, it can get kinda hard dealing with LO during the day. (Sundays are really long for us because of church service and family gatherings afterward.) He gets cranky from being tired and has a hard time getting a good nap in on Sundays. 

Did it effect day or nighttime sleep the most?  
Both! LO seems to have dropped a nap already (from 3 to 2 times a day) which is crazy. But, he naps for atleast 1.5 hours. During the night, he has been waking up once or twice. He gets one MOTN feed between 3 - 4AM. He has always been a good sleeper since birth but lately, he just ain't havin' it...

Did your baby go back to a better pattern afterwards?
We shall see....LO will be 21 weeks on Wednesday.

3dogs_and_a_baby

I can't say the 4 moth sleep regression has hit us FX I don't jinx it but S isn't a great sleeper to begin with. We average 2-3 wake ups a night but have had some bad nights where she was waking every 2 hours. 

redselig

I can't say when it actually started because we came back from a month vacation and immediately had to move house. Everything's been out of sorts with LO since then. I think this might be week 3 of the regression, overlapping or simultaneous with wonder week leap, growth spurt and teething. 

I'm coping well but some days are more difficult than others. It has affected day and night sleep. He used to be able to go down with a little rocking and a pacifier and occasional nursing for naps. Now I'm lucky if bouncing up and down vigorously on a yoga ball with him in the Ergo can help him wind him down. At night he was able to do six or seven hour stretches in the crib with 1 or 2 nighttime feeds. There were times I've been up almost every hour to rock or nurse.

I think we're slowly getting out of it. For the past couple of days, LO's afternoon naps have been 1.5-2 hours. I am staying close during those naps to settle him if he wakes up. His morning and late afternoon naps are approx. 30 - 40 minutes. Short naps are better than no naps. We do our bedtime routine at 8 and bedtime is usually 8:30-9. He's waking up fewer times at night, thankfully, but getting LO to stay sleeping in the crib is not happening. Back to co-sleeping it is! 

SheRiskers

I think our little dude hit it early. He was probably 3.5 months and all of a sudden added an entire feed or two to his usually pretty routine overnight. It. Was. Exhausting. That lasted for about a week, maybe two... Then he all of a sudden dropped the feeds, started sleeping 10+ hours, and preferred his pack n play to the RnP. It's been amazing! I have no idea what came over him but as soon as he was able to self soothe, everything changed. He's been sleeping through the night ever since 9pm to about 7 or 8am and will usually fall back to sleep by 9. I was so worried about the sleep regression and trying to get him used to sleeping flat on his back. 

g&tlewis

I don't know if LO knew I was about to have a breakdown or if the regression is coming to an end, but he slept almost 9 hours straight last night. He woke up 5 minutes before my alarm usually goes off - good thing, because I left my FitBit charging so I didn't actually have an alarm set. I gave him his paci, and he slept for another 1.5 hours until I was almost finished getting ready for work. Really hoping he's through the regression!

Sarcasm101

LO typically wakes up 2x a night. The only silver lining is that he eats and goes right back to sleep. I am worried that he is starting to wake out of habit and not hunger. Thankfully, he takes 3 1-2 hours naps a day, like clockwork. 

Any tips of how to break the habit of him eating in the middle of the night? Or should I still allow him to eat as much as he wants when he wakes?

ladylolly89

Sarcasm101 said:

LO typically wakes up 2x a night. The only silver lining is that he eats and goes right back to sleep. I am worried that he is starting to wake out of habit and not hunger. Thankfully, he takes 3 1-2 hours naps a day, like clockwork. 

Any tips of how to break the habit of him eating in the middle of the night? Or should I still allow him to eat as much as he wants when he wakes?

I cold turkey stopped feeding mine when I suspected he was waking from habit - a little after 3 months. He was waking up once at night at about the same time, just chatting and cooing. He still woke up for a few nights after we stopped feeding, but after he got bored he'd just go back to sleep. This worked very well for us, as he's been STTN nearly every night since. If he wakes up, he just puts himself back to sleep. He'll be 20 weeks tomorrow. 
I know this method doesn't always work, though. Just my own experience!  

K&Elizabeth

I am in awe with all of these babies STTN. Thomas has never slept longer than 5 hours and that was 1 measly time. Homeboy eats every 2-3 hours around the clock, all day, every day.

Missingchampagne

I did the same as @ladylolly89, giving him a pacifier over and over instead of the bottle at first and eventually just stopping.

wildtot

Sarcasm101 said:

LO typically wakes up 2x a night. The only silver lining is that he eats and goes right back to sleep. I am worried that he is starting to wake out of habit and not hunger. Thankfully, he takes 3 1-2 hours naps a day, like clockwork. 

Any tips of how to break the habit of him eating in the middle of the night? Or should I still allow him to eat as much as he wants when he wakes?

I'm starting to suspect the same thing. We only got one week of 7 hours but did a few 5-6. How he's been back to 3-4 hours at night like clockwork even if he goes to sleep with a full tummy. He wakes up crying and most of the time the paci won't do anything. He will just spit it out. He will do 3-4 during the day but it's just harder at night. He's starting to roll and that seems to be affecting his sleep too  

bean_2016

K&Elizabeth said:

I am in awe with all of these babies STTN. Thomas has never slept longer than 5 hours and that was 1 measly time. Homeboy eats every 2-3 hours around the clock, all day, every day.

This is our life exactly. It's so exhausting. I don't really think she is hungry? But it's hard when she wakes up crying, my first instinct is to feed her BUT I am starting to worry that she's waking out of habit and not hunger. She only eats for a few minutes then goes back to sleep. I honestly don't know what to do..no one is sleeping in this house and it's getting tough lol. Let me know if you figure out how to deal with this!

linzoirv

Update on this cray-cray sleep regression:

I feel like I jinxed myself. Since I posted on 8/29, LO has been waking up 5-6 times a night talking/cooing and sometimes crying. I continue to give him only 1 MOTN bottle (4 oz). Sometimes he will take his paci and sometimes he will not. I don't know what's going on...but I definitely dragged to work this morning. I probably got 4 hours of sleep tops last night.

ETA: When the paci doesn't work, I do the "shush-pat" thing while he is still lying down. But it sucks to get out of bed, go to his room, and do this like every 2 hours it seems. During the MOTN, after his bottle, he gets rocked back to sleep which is comical because I actually go to sleep while rocking while LO looks at the nightlight. 

redselig

I know that people are doing whatever it takes to get through the sleep regression and may reverting back to old ways BUT how do you know the regression is over?! I'm almost 4 weeks in and 3-4 night wakings and nursing to sleep is looking like the new normal.

bean_2016

redselig said:

I know that people are doing whatever it takes to get through the sleep regression and may reverting back to old ways BUT how do you know the regression is over?! I'm almost 4 weeks in and 3-4 night wakings and nursing to sleep is looking like the new normal.

My question exactly!

ImpatientPatty

K&Elizabeth said:

I am in awe with all of these babies STTN. Thomas has never slept longer than 5 hours and that was 1 measly time. Homeboy eats every 2-3 hours around the clock, all day, every day.

Me too! I've been reading this posts thinking to myself, "what have I missed?". I've just returned to work this week and its been really hard with the nighttime feedings.

runningwild

Sarcasm101 said:

LO typically wakes up 2x a night. The only silver lining is that he eats and goes right back to sleep. I am worried that he is starting to wake out of habit and not hunger. Thankfully, he takes 3 1-2 hours naps a day, like clockwork. 

Any tips of how to break the habit of him eating in the middle of the night? Or should I still allow him to eat as much as he wants when he wakes?

Mine is still waking for at least 1 feeding at night. She spits out the binkie and cries hard if I don't feed her. So I feed her. It won't last forever

With my first 2 it seems like the night feedings just slowly tapered off over time.... I  want to say it was between 8-9 months. 

momofmanyinthemitten

redselig said:

I know that people are doing whatever it takes to get through the sleep regression and may reverting back to old ways BUT how do you know the regression is over?! I'm almost 4 weeks in and 3-4 night wakings and nursing to sleep is looking like the new normal.

With #3, she was sleeping 7pm-7pm from 1 mo to the sleep regression at 4 mos. Then, her sleep turned to crap until she was 2 yrs, which is when I popped out #4.

redselig

kielpinskim said:

With #3, she was sleeping 7pm-7pm from 1 mo to the sleep regression at 4 mos. Then, her sleep turned to crap until she was 2 yrs, which is when I popped out #4.

Oh no, not the answer I wanted to hear! Luckily, for the past couple of days, LO has gone back to six and seven hour stretches and is back in the crib. Still working on the constant nursing to sleep...

bean_2016

redselig said:

kielpinskim said:

With #3, she was sleeping 7pm-7pm from 1 mo to the sleep regression at 4 mos. Then, her sleep turned to crap until she was 2 yrs, which is when I popped out #4.

Oh no, not the answer I wanted to hear! Luckily, for the past couple of days, LO has gone back to six and seven hour stretches and is back in the crib. Still working on the constant nursing to sleep...

@redselig thank you for posting this. Gives me a little bit of hope. L has been up every 2-3 hours and will only go back to sleep after a quick nursing session. It's honestly killing us lol. I hope this gets better soon. I'm so worried that I am instilling bad sleep habits but we are so desperate for sleep we just go what we need to to get through the night. 

redselig

@beccamccann I'll keep you updated! Last night he woke up after only four hours so maybe we're not out yet! 

marwaaiad

Anyone still experiencing this?
You know how they say feed them cereal so it fills them up and they would wake up less during the night...that has not worked with us as of yet 

bean_2016

marwaaiad said:

Anyone still experiencing this?
You know how they say feed them cereal so it fills them up and they would wake up less during the night...that has not worked with us as of yet 

Oh yeah we are right there with you! L still wakes up every three hours. We have done everything we can think of. We have a solid bedtime routine but nothing has worked to get some longer stretches. We have just sort of made peace that L is not a great sleeper right now and are praying she grows out of it! Lol pretty sure this is why God made her extra cute

Missingchampagne

My son experienced a "helmet regression". He was a fine sleeper into his fourth and fifth month, but when he got his helmet it seemed to mess with his sleep habits and he became much needier. Now he needs a bottle to get to bed (before he would drift off naturally, spending time with DH and I in our nightly routine). He needs COMPLETE silence. He cannot get comfortable to save his life, and in the process of trying he'll roll himself into the corner of the PNP and wake up wailing about that. Then he wants a bottle every 4 hours. 

It may have also been the 4 month regression hitting late though, because he was born 3w early so his "adjusted age" was 4m, 1w when this began. Maybe the helmet was a coincidence? Who knows?

runningwild

beccamccann said:

marwaaiad said:

Anyone still experiencing this?
You know how they say feed them cereal so it fills them up and they would wake up less during the night...that has not worked with us as of yet 

Oh yeah we are right there with you! L still wakes up every three hours. We have done everything we can think of. We have a solid bedtime routine but nothing has worked to get some longer stretches. We have just sort of made peace that L is not a great sleeper right now and are praying she grows out of it! Lol pretty sure this is why God made her extra cute

QBF

Yeah, it didn't start for us until just before she hit 5 months. She'll be 6 months next week. I thought we were going to be lucky and breeze through, but I was wrong. 

DD went from 1-3 brief wake ups for the binkie and 1 motn feedING to waking constantly and demanding to be fed every 3ish hours or so. I'm so tired! Just praying we make it through this soon

ivyvines6

marwaaiad said:

Anyone still experiencing this?
You know how they say feed them cereal so it fills them up and they would wake up less during the night...that has not worked with us as of yet 

There is zero evidence to support that adding cereal to bottles helps babies sttn. (It's also gross) I honestly think you either have a good sleeper or you don't. It varies from baby to baby, and within the same family too.

g&tlewis

We had gotten a little better then another wonder week hit plus still teething. He's waking up crying about once an hour, and I usually end up feeding him once around midnight, too. I haven't fed him in the motn for a couple of months. It's been a really really rough week. I had to sleep on the couch with him last night to even get 5 hours before I had to get ready for work. Also haven't done that in several months. Out of desperation, I ordered a Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit yesterday. It should be here on Friday so I'm praying that thing works. Momma needs some sleep!

redselig

@beccamccann i had mentioned that LO had a couple of six and seven hour stretches at night - an improvement from the 4 month regression. A quick update - we've been on vacation for almost a month and there's a six hour time difference. I haven't had more than a 4 hour stretch since being away. So sad. 

bean_2016

redselig said:

@beccamccann i had mentioned that LO had a couple of six and seven hour stretches at night - an improvement from the 4 month regression. A quick update - we've been on vacation for almost a month and there's a six hour time difference. I haven't had more than a 4 hour stretch since being away. So sad. 

Thank you for the update and hope you are having a great vacation! So sorry the sleep has taken another turn! It's so tough. I honestly feel it has been the hardest part of being a parent so far (other than colic..yikes!). 

bean_2016

We took L to the naturopath today and she wants me to stop eating gluten,dairy, egg and corn. She's hoping this is going to help L sleep better. She's thinking maybe she has some food intolerances. It was a lot to take in and I am feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the new diet changes. She said to give it to two weeks to see if it makes a difference. 

It's very unfortunate that it is Thanksgiving in Canada next weekend and I won't be able to eat a lot of my favourite things. Last year I couldn't eat any thing because I had such bad morning sickness lol. That being said if this works and it helps L get a better, uninterrupted nights sleep, I won't mind it one bit!